i found this quarter a couple of weeks ago. it appears that the copper ring is missing when viewed from the edge. it is not magnetic, nor does it have the silver "ring" to it. i was wondering if anyone has heard of a clad quarter missing the copper, or if it is something different altogether? i do not have a way, at present, to weigh it.
Weigh it, that is the only way you will be able to tell if something isn't right about it. A quick way to do a cheap test is to grab another quarter, same year with the copper layer and take both coins and drop them on a marble counter top. You should be able to hear the same sound if they are the same. It's not that unusual that the copper strip doesn't show though and it doesn't look like a silver issued proof.
i know it's not silver, it's from the philly mint, and doesn't have that silver "ring" to it. do you think a dealer would weigh it?
More than likely, 99 out of a 100, no, 9,999 times out of 10,000, no, better yet, (based upon the No Silver "ring" to it) 1,000 out of 1,000 times, the coin was plated. The "copper ring" you refer to is actually the 100% copper core which exists on all the Philly coins. Silver coins of this particular state are all "S" Mint coins and all Proof coins. My guess, is that some fellow threw this into the silver plating batch at some high tech electornics manufacturer and then decided to just spend it.
never once did i claim it was silver. i did the "flip test" to be sure when i found it, hence i said it doesn't have the silver "ring" to it. i disregarded the thought that it was silver immediately, and that was a few weeks ago. my question is whether or not anyone had heard of the copper core missing from a clad coin. and so far 2 votes say the copper is just hidden. i was hoping for something cool. but i will get it weighed somehow just to make sure the copper is there.
I believe there have been one or two discovered since 1965. That's it. Odds are probably a few thousand times more likely that the coin is plated. There have been lterally a TON of those plated coins sold by the TV coin shows that have been dumped into circulation by buyers once they discover they have no value over face.
How could a quarter be missing the copper core conder? The only way I could think of would be a complete planchet lamination failure but the OP's coin is far too thick for that. Punched on a nickel planchet could also be a possibility but again the piece is too thick for that.
Could be from the end of a strip, without the center copper part bonded to the other layers. Nice find. Weight should give more insight to the coin. -O)
Or, you can use a pen and popsicle stick and another quarter. Balance the stick on the pen, put a regular quarter on one side and the suspect quarter on the other.
I agree with Conder. I have literally spent hundreds if not thousands of platinum, silver, and gold plated quarters in the last several years.
I've never used that method (I have two decent electronic scales) but I've heard cent fanatics tell people to use the same method for checking 1982 cents.
Can you post some bigger pictures for us to look at. Very hard with small pictures to evaluate a coin. Regards, Stan
Every example of a "coreless" state quarter that I've been able to examine proved to be plated. I just sent one back to a disappointed collector last week. As others have said, if the weight is the same as a normal quarter (or a few hundredths of a gram over), it's almost certainly plated. The ultimate test (after weighing) is the "scalpel test". I shave a microscopic bit of metal from the sloping side of one of the reeds with a scalpel under high magnification. This inevitably reveals the copper core. Obviously, this should only be done if you're pretty sure it's a fake.
